You had to be prepared, fast and lucky to secure tickets for Avery Brewing’s 3rd annual SourFest this Saturday.

The Boulder-based brewery’s celebration of the cult-favorite beer style sold out within two minutes.

To preview this year’s edition, we contacted a few of the participating breweries known for brewing great sour beer. (A list of the 23 breweries that will be represented this year can be found at the end of this post).

Not everything this weekend will be mouth-puckering. Avery also allows non-sour beers brewed with the wild yeast Brettanomyces “because they are also often done in smaller batches, or barrels, and generally considered a part of that ‘fringe’ category,” marketing director Joe Osborne said.

Our open-ended question to the breweries: What’s next for sour beer in the U.S.?

Will Meyers, Brewmaster, Cambridge Brewing Company, Cambridge, Mass.:

“I do foresee significant increased production of sour beers as consumers are becoming more and more interested in them. In fact, people who have previously pursued wine and cocktails are getting into craft beer more and more, as are women who (generally speaking) have a tendency to be averse to the bitterness found in most beer styles, and their interest in beer has often come via sour/wild beers. This is because the acidity and fruitiness and often tannins and oak flavors in many representatives of this category closely mimic those same familiar characteristics in wine.

While we’ll see breweries like Avery continue to lead the way in experimenting and regularly releasing barrel-aged sour beers, we’ll also see newer breweries like Crooked Stave who have an exclusive focus on the production of these beers. They are fascinating beers to brew, and more challenging than pale ales or IPAs. They take considerably longer to produce as well – months or often years per release as opposed to just three or four weeks for an IPA.

There’s more at risk when making these beers – cross-contamination, the time and money lost when a batch doesn’t turn out as expected, considerably higher labor – but this has never been a risk-averse industry to be sure. So we’ll see increased availability of these beers, but don’t expect them to supplant IPA as the country’s favorite craft beer style any time soon. Even if demand were there, we wouldn’t be able to brew enough!”

Tomme Arthur, brewmaster and director of brewery operations, Port Brewing and The Lost Abbey, San Marcos, Calif.:

“I would have to think that the evolution of production methods will separate the producers of sour ales. Many breweries are dabbling in this production while others are going whole hog. Success is out there for those who do. We have seen breweries (like Jolly Pumpkin and Cascade Lakes) produce a range of sour(ish) beers and nothing else. Many of the breweries who are now entering the sour beer arena are looking at having separate facilities for these types of beers. Development of a “house character” will also need to manifest itself if a brewery wishes to distinguish their beers in a sea of sour patch wannabes.

There is a whole world of opportunities that can be explored in sour beer land. Look at Cantillon in Belgium. While they have been producing lambic for over 100 years they are still experimenting with herbs and interesting fruits. I have heard rumors that they are even doing some aging in Clay Pots (Amphorae) which takes it way back. If one of the best producers in the world keeps experimenting, we’ll have no problem developing new sour beers as well.”

Joe Osborne, Avery Brewing marketing director:

“Sour ales will definitely remain a unique and special category of craft beer for a long time to come. Since the folks interested in sour ales are a limited (and passionate!) group, and the beers themselves are more of a special occasion treat, it’s hard to imagine breweries creating volumes that come close to the more sessionable beers like our IPA. Also, the ideal environment for brewing sours is in wooden vessels, which doesn’t lend itself to huge batches getting brewed. The only brewery that I know of who has brewed sours in a traditional brewing system is Deschutes, so there could be more experimentation in the future in that process.”

Doug Odell, founder, Odell Brewing, Fort Collins:

“I have always been interested in using different kinds of wood. But as far as barrels, oak is pretty much it, maybe maple. So maybe some different woods, maybe ingredients in addition the traditional brewing ingredients with sours. But sours, even if they not very well established now, sour accomplishes the same thing bitter does. You get bitterness from hops, which balances the sweetness of the malts. The wild yeast, the Brettanomyces, accomplishes the same thing, bringing that balance. So it’s equally legitimate. They work from a balance standpoint.”

Ron Gansberg, brewmaster, Cascade Brewing, Portland, Ore.:

“We are sending Sang Royal, Sang Noir, the Vine and Blueberry in Bottles to the Fest at Avery. We see a lot of breweries bringing out sour beers of all styles and quality. I believe that acceptance of sour beers will become more widespread and that people will become more select in the sours they drink due to poor quality issues. We will see a segment of the sour beer market drift further and further to very highly acidic beers, just like with hopped beers, ‘more is better!'”

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